Chaminda Vaas and Prabath Nissanka exploited heavy overcast skies and cutdeep inroads into the West Indies top-order with the new ball
Charlie Austin07-Jun-200348.4 overs Sri Lanka 201 (Kaluwitharana 54, Dillon 3-39) v West Indies 91 for 5 in 25 overs Chaminda Vaas and Prabath Nissanka exploited heavy overcast skies and cutdeep inroads into the West Indies top-order with the new ball. Despite beingasked to defend a below-par 201 after a stop-start display with the bat,their efforts left Sri Lanka with the upper-hand mid-way through with WestIndies on 91 for 5 after 25 overs.West Indies anticipated the major threat to come from Muttiah Muralitharan,a fact reflected in Brian Lara’s surprise decision to drop down the order,but it was Vaas and Nissanka who caused the problems with penetrativeopening spells.Vaas led the way with an immaculate first over, swinging the ball away fromthe left-handed Chris Gayle, who would not have survived had MahelaJayawardene clung onto a low chance at first slip. But Sri Lanka did nothave to wait long for their first wicket, as Nissanka bowled Wavell Hindsbehind his legs for a duck (2 for 1). Hinds could do no wrong against theAustralians, scoring two successive match-winning tons, but he paid thepenalty here for shuffling too far across his stumps.Gayle could not capitalise on his first over reprieve as he nicked acarbon-copy outswinger from Vaas in the next over (4 for 2). Ricardo Powell,promoted up the order as Lara relinquished his normal No. 3 spot, startedwith a firm legside clip but he never settled. Vaas, now swinging the ballsharply back into the right-handers, trapped him leg-before on the back legwith an inswinger which would have knocked back his middle stump (15 for 3).When Ramnaresh Sarwan crunched a boundary through the offside, MarvanAtapattu moved Kumar Sangakkara into a short square-point position. And nextball, Sarwan blazed a similar square-drive off the middle of his bat, onlyto see Sangakkara cling onto a fine head-high reaction catch (19 for 4).A short break for rain provided the West Indies with a chance to regroup,and after the interruption Lara started the repair-work with Marlon Samuels.The pair had to negotiate increasing variations in bounce, but they saw offNissanka and Vaas and became increasingly confident as the sun started toshine once more. Lara was the more circumspect of the pair, although he didproduce the shot of the day: a spanking cover-drive.Muralitharan was eventually introduced into the attack in the 18th over ofthe innings to resume a longstanding rivalry with Lara, the man he rates asthe best player of spin in the world. But it was Dharshana Gamage, Sri Lanka’s new bald-headed seamer, who broke through. Samuels, on 29, wasthreatening a destructive innings, but he was caught behind off a thick edgeas he tried to force powerfully through the offside (73 for 5).West Indian hopes were left resting on the shoulders of Lara, West Indiesfinest batsman and the last recognised specialist, who has laboured hard forhis runs. He was unbeaten on 22 from 72 balls, batting with Ridley Jacobs,who was on 11.Sri Lanka Innings48.4 overs Sri Lanka 201 (Kaluwitharana 54, Dillon 3-39) v West IndiesWest Indies dismissed Sri Lanka for a below-par 201 in 48.4 overs in thefirst game of a three-match series on a slow Kensington Oval pitch. It was astop-start innings dominated by Romesh Kaluwitharana at the top of theorder, who scored 54 from 75 balls, and later by Kumar Dharmasena, whochipped in with 40 valuable runs in the lower order.West Indies clasped a clear advantage after Sri Lanka had slipped to 112 for5 after the loss of Kaluwitharana, but Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dharmasenarescued the innings with a consolidating 59 partnership for the sixthwicket. However, West Indies finished the innings strongly, runningthrough the Sri Lanka tail in the final overs.Whether the total will be enough to test a West Indies batting line-upbrimming with confidence after three straight wins against Australia isunlikely, but Sri Lanka will take confidence from the low-scoring recenthistory at the venue, and the prospect of assistance for their key matchwinner, Muttiah Muralitharan.Sri Lanka were forced onto the back foot in first over after a poor decisionfrom Billy Doctrove. Sanath Jayasuriya greeted Doctrove’s raised finger witha resigned smile, knowing that Mervyn Dillon’s third ball had missed theedge by a fair distance (0 for 1).But Marvan Atapattu, who had top scored with 99 against a Shell Academy XIin Sri Lanka’s only practice match, and Kaluwitharana played positively.They were made to hop around on a pitch offering some early life -especially Kaluwitharana who was hit on the helmet by Corey Collymore andlater floored by a blow to his midriff – but also found the boundary as 46runs were added in 54 balls.Brian Lara conjured up a breakthrough with a surprise bowling change,calling on Marlon Samuels’ offbreaks in the 10th over. A similar move hadworked against the Australians, when Samuels had dismissed Adam Gilchristafter opening the bowling in Grenada, and it foxed Atapattu too, who clippedback a simple return catch. He had scored 22 from 36 balls (46 for 2).Lara kept ringing the changes as he replaced Dillon with Collymore. Were itnot for the fumbling hands of Ricardo Powell at second slip, Kumar Sangakkarawould have gone third ball. He continued to ride his luck, frequentlyplaying and missing. But he also showed his class, clipping one sweetboundary through the legside and another majestic cover drive. At the otherend Kaluwitharana chipped in with some flamboyant strokes.Sangakkara’s luck ran out in the 21st over as David Bernard, the fifthbowler used, claimed his first wicket in one-day cricket. Sangakkara wascaught on the point boundary by Ramnaresh Sarwan after a wild swing to oneof Bernard’s straighter deliveries – he bowled five wides in his firsttwo-over spell (83 for 3).With Sri Lanka’s shaky middle order exposed, Lara swung back onto theoffensive. Dillon was hauled back into the attack and afforded two slips. Anunconvincing Mahela Jayawardene survived Dillon’s burst, but did not outlast long, succumbing to the innocuous medium pace of Wavell Hinds as he top-edged a pull (106 for 4).West Indies stole a clear initiative soon afterwards with the run-out ofKaluwitharana, who reached his 23rd one-day fifty before becoming boggeddown after the departure of Sangakkara. Slipping on the turn as he pushedfor a second run, Kaluwitharana could not beat Hinds’s throw from theboundary despite a desperate dive (112 for 5).Dharmasena and Dilshan (27) started their repair job slowly, nudging singlesand twos. They were fortunate that West Indies’ throwing radars were notworking properly, the fielders missing the stumps on half a dozen occasions.Gradually they started to tick along more easily and Sri Lanka were set fora competitive total on 171 for 5.But they lost their way after Vasbert Drakes flattened Dilshan’s stumps, asthe last five wickets folded for 30 runs, leaving the full house at theKensington Oval with high hopes of another West Indies victory.